One of the big questions that has popped up since the Redeem Team won gold in Beijing is why didn't the 2004 squad do it in Athens?

Well, there are multiple reasons that I'll get into, but let's first ask Larry Brown, who coached that 2004 squad. So Larry, how come the Redeem Team won gold and your squad didn't?


So, where to begin? Am I really to believe that guys like Stephon Marbury and Allen Iverson were so torn up over 9/11 that they had trouble playing 3 years after the fact? I'm going to be honest here. I don't think Stephon Marbury is even aware 9/11 happened, and he's a native New Yorker.

I guess Larry Brown is a member of the Rudy Giuliani School of Excuse Making. Whenever you're boxed into a corner, just say the magic words, "9/11."

It's pretty insulting that Brown would use that as an excuse. Instead, he should probably blame himself and the fools on the selection committee that set up that 2004 team.

It's always been my belief that the problem with the 2004 squad was that it was built out of laziness. By 2004 it had become a chore to go over and win the gold rather than a challenge. And in addition to that, many of the NBA's best players, like Shaq, KG, etc., had already made the trek and didn't want to go back. So the selection committee and Brown assumed they could just assemble a team of second- and third-tier All-Stars and waltz over to Athens and claim gold. Even worse was that the 2004 team was littered with ball hogs - and led by the nightmare combination of Iverson and Marbury. 

When you combine that with Brown's refusal to play young players like LeBron, Wade and Carmelo, it was a nightmare scenario. All "me-first" basketball.

The good thing though is that had 2004 not happened, we probably would have sent a team over in 2008 featuring guys like Tyrone Lue and Mike Dunleavy. It's like we were in a gambling pool to see what was the worst team we could send to the Olympics and still win gold.

Fortunately, this 2008 team has reset the bar. And, in some ways, it's good the gold medal final against Spain was close. Had we won by 37 points again, we might have started to fall back into our "Eh, just send over the next best guys" model.

I think you'll see some of the same guys from this year's squad on the 2012 squad. They now know that a gold isn't just given to you, you have to work for it. And that's the greatest lesson that the Redeem Team could have brought home to share with future Team USA Olympians.

It's committment that takes medal for US basketball [NY Daily News]
Larry Brown, kindly stop it [Ball Don't Lie]